Luke 6
DODDLuke 6:1-5
Parallels: Mark 2; Matthew 12
Christ vindicates his disciples from the censure of the Pharisees, for rubbing the ears of corn in their hands as they passed through the fields on a sabbath day. Luke VI. 1—5; Mat. XII. 1—8; Mark II. 23, to the end.
LUKE VI. 1. AND it came to pass, [at that time,] on the second sabbath after the LUKE VI. 1. AFTER the preceding conference with the Jews, our Lord departed from Jerusalem, where he had met with such an ungrateful
The disciples pluck the ear SECT. reception, and returned to XLIX. And it came to pass, that about Luke first sabbath after the second [VI. 1 bread, b] Jesus, attended as u. followers, (who had been with went through the cornfields; were hungry, and the barley w began, as they went, to pull off corn; c and rubbing them in th off the beards and the husk, a Returned towards Galilee.] We may reasonably conclude this, because both Mark and Luke mention his being there quickly after this story. Compare Mark iii. 7, and Luke vi. 12, 13, with vii. 1. b The first sabbath after the second day of unleavened bread.] So I venture to render uſſeſſeſſon, the word used by Luke; yet of without much hesitation; for it is so singular an expression, that (as Erasmus long since did) I despair of seeing its sense exactly ascertained. Could Theophylact, or is very learned followers, Scaliger, Lightfoot, and Whitby, produce any instance of uſſeſſeſſon being used for the second, or uſſeſſeſſon for the third of the sabbaths between the passover and pentecost, I should entirely acquiesce in the translation here even; which supposes this was the first of those seven sabbaths which followed the second day of unleavened bread, from whence he fifty days to pentecost were to be computed; see Lev. xxiii. 15, 16. On the other hand, could the great Grotius or his followers, Woltzogenius and Brennius, have produced an instance in which uſſeſſeſſon, or uſſeſſeſſon occurs, there would have been reason to conclude with them, that there were three prime sabbaths which were accounted sabbaths of peculiar solemnity; the first, that after pentecost; and the third, that after the feast of tabernacles. For want of sufficient authorities to support either of these interpretations Sir Isaac Newton (on roph. p. 154,) after Epiphanius and Beza, has advanced another yet less probable than either; which is, that it was the second of the two great feasts of the passover; as we call caster day itself high caster, and its octave, low caster, or low Sunday. But though the seventh day of unleavened bread was to be a holy convocation, yet the law expressly allowed the Jews to dress victuals on it (Exod. xii. 16); which would have afforded so direct an answer to the Pharisees’ objection, that one can hardly suppose Christ would have failed to urge it. On either of these two last suppositions, it
isees complain of it as a breach of the sa bath.
And some of the Pharisees, who were employed by the rulers to follow him from place to place as malicious spies on all his discourses and actions, when they saw it, were offended at the time and circumstances of the action, and reproving his disciples, said to them, Why do ye thus gather and rub out the grain; for that is a kind of servile work, which it is not lawful for any one to do on the sabbath days? And that they might involve their Master also in the same charge, though he did not himself join with them in it, they said to him, Behold, these thy disciples, in thy very presence, do that which is not lawful for any one to do on the sabbath; and wilt thou permit it to pass without a reproof?
And Jesus said in answer to them, Have ye, that value yourselves so much on your acquaintance with the sacred writings, and set up for the expositors of them to others, never read that which David did in his extreme necessity, when he and they that were with him were hungry? How he went into the tabernacle, which is the house of God, in the days of Abiathar, who was afterwards the high priest,
a great deal of stress on this, for fixing the time of Christ’s death; concluding this pass-over must happen late, and that it was two years before that in which our Lord was crucified; and consequently that Christ’s death must be fixed to such a time that the passover two years before it may be a late one. But I fear the argument is not so conclusive as one could wish, considering with what ingenuity and labour it is pursued. For that great man seems to have forgot how expressly Maimonides and the other rabbies assert that the Jews did not always fix their passover by the vernal equinox; but, in case of a backward spring, added an intercalary month between that and Abib. (See Lightfoot’s Hor. Heb. on Mat. xii. 1.) If this be credible it shews how little we can ascertain the Jewish passovers by astronomical calculations; and if it be not, why did Sir Isaac proceed in his computations on those rules for the translation of feasts, which we have only by late rabbinical tradition? See Bochart. Hieroz. lib. ii. cap. 50.
d Offended at the time and circumstances of the action.] The law so ex resally
allowed to pluck ears of corn as one passed through a field, that, malignant as they were, they pretended not to find fault with the thing itself (see Deut. xxxiii. 25.) but they were perverse enough to think this a kind of reaping and dressing the grain, which was indeed forbidden on the sabbath.
e Abiathar, who was afterwards the high priest.] If our present reading (which Beza suspects, though older than the Syriac version) be allowed as genuine, here is a remarkable instance of a person being designed by an office which he did not bear till after the date of the event referred to; in like manner as Cyrenius (Luke ii. 2) is called governor of Syria because he was so after the enrolment. It seems indeed that Ahimelech was high priest when David took the shewbread, though in all the story he is only called the priest; and as it is merely an arbitrary supposition that the father was sometimes called Abiathar, on the son of Ahimelech, it seems impossible to defend the received reading otherwise than by supposing, with Grotius, that a Abiathar was a much more celebrated person than his father, our Lord mention
Christ vindicates them by the examp of Davi a
and then officiated for his father Ahimelech ; (see 1 Sam. xxi. 3, & seq.) Have ye forgot that this faithful servant of God, this man after his own heart, took and eat the shew bread, which had that very day been taken from the holy table, and gave it also to those that attended him ; which it was neither lawful for him nor them to eat, nor even the Levites themselves, but for the priests alone ? Yet in this case their necessity was judged a sufficient excuse for dispensing with the observance of such a ceremonial institution ; (see Lev. xxiv. 6—9.)
Or have ye not read in the law, that by those sacrifices which are appointed for the sabbath day, and some of them peculiar to it, the priests themselves, who minister in the temple, are obliged to perform very servile works on the sabbath days, in making up the fires, killing, flaying, and dressing the sacrifices, and the like, by which others would be justly reckoned to profane the sabbath ; and yet, doing it with an immediate reference to the service of God, they are accounted blameless, and really are so. Now I say unto you, That there is [something] greater than the temple here, and of much more importance than the service of it. My disciples therefore may surely be vindicated on such an occasion as this, when in attendance upon me, in prosecution of my service, they do what is so much less laborious than the offices which you allow there in the priests.
And he said unto them farther on this occasion, The sabbath was made for the benefit of man, subservient to the rest and relief of his body, as well as to be spent in religious improvement ; and not man for the observation of the sabbath, or of any other ceremonial institution whatsoever.
But if ye had known the intent of that scripture, Hos. vi. 6. and had considered what this
is name in preference to the other. He was probably present, and, for any thing we certainly know, his aged father might act by his advice in the affair referred to ; which if he did, it was exceeding proper to mention him here.
f Something greater than the temple.] So any manuscripts, with Theophylact, read
μυζον, something greater, instead of μυζον, one greater, (see Dr. Mill, in loc.) and in this view the opposition seems so natural that I prefer this reading. Our Lord might perhaps point to his own body, the noblest temple of the Deity (compare John ii. 21, sect. xxiv.) or it might refer to the work then going on : but the former sense is much more natural.
he Son o man is ord o the sab th.
meaneth, “I require mercy, and not sacrifice; that is, I always prefer acts of charity to matters of positive institution, when in any instance they interfere with each other;” you would not have condemned the innocent, as you have now done, merely for rubbing out a handful of corn to refresh them in my service.
You are therefore, on the whole, greatly to blame to censure them; and would be so, if they had only my dispensation for what they do, and were defended by no farther arguments; for the Son of man is a person of so great dignity and authority, that he indeed is Lord even of the sabbath [itself;] and he may hereafter give you far more surprising instances of his power over it.
I require mercy, and not sacrifice.] So evidently signifies when it expresses he will of a superior; and this the original Hebrew word imports, which seems here to answer to that modern phrase used by princes, Such is our pleasure.
I always prefer acts of charity, &c.] I must here repeat a very obvious remark, because the sense of so many important scriptures depends upon it, viz. that according to the genius of the Hebrew language, one thing seems to be forbidden and another commanded, when the meaning only is that the latter is greatly to be preferred to the former. The text before us is a remarkable instance of this; as likewise Joel ii. 13; Mat. vi. 19, 20; John vi. 27; Luke xii. 4, 5; and Col. iii. 2. And it is evident that Gen. xlv. 8; Exod. xvi. 8; John v. 30; vii. 19; and many more passages, are to be expounded in the same comparative sense. A late ingenious writer says, “Our Lord does not compare moral and positive duties together here, but only the commandments of men with the commandments of God.” But it is plain the series of our Lord’s arguments here is intended to prove that circumstances of necessity dispense with some ceremonial observances, which were in the general commanded by God, and manifestly goes upon this foundation, that ceremonial institutions being the means of religion, if circumstances occurred in which they interfered with the end of it, they were suspended of course; and when this is the case, the conscience of particular persons is to judge as in the sight of God.
For the Son of man is Lord, &c.] The author of the new translation renders it in Matthew, The sabbath is subservient to man, though he paraphrases it as it stands in Mark, The Son of man has a power of dispensing with the law of the sabbath; which is undoubtedly the true sense: for I cannot find that the Son of man does, in the New Testament, signify any one but Christ; and were the words (which are exactly the same) to be translated in Mark as he has rendered them in Matthew, they would be a mere repetition of ver. 27, The sabbath was made for man, &c. It is worthy of our notice that Matthew introduces these words with γρ, for, and Mark with ας, therefore, or so that; and both connections may be justified. Yet as it is hardly to be imagined both were equally intended, I look upon this to be a considerable proof that the sacred writers were not always critically exact in the use of their particles: a remark which I apprehend to be of great importance both for clearing their sense and vindicating their character. Whoever considers the ambiguity of many of those Hebrew particles which correspond to the Greek, will find little reason to wonder at it. Compare Luke xi. 36, sect. lxiv. and noted there.
Even of the sabbath itself; και σε σαββαίη.] This certainly implies that the sabbath was an institution of great and distinguished importance; and may perhaps also refer to that signal authority which Christ by the ministry of his apostles should exert over it, in changing it from the seventh to the first day of the week.
Reflections on the apology of Christ for his disciples.
IMPROVEMENT.
WITH pleasure we observe the zeal which these attendants of XLIX. Christ express, who chose on a sacred festival to expose themselves to hunger as well as toil, rather than they would lose the Mat. benefit of his instructions, which, like the heavenly manna on the XII. 1 day preceding the sabbath, were then poured out in a double plenty. But what numerous auditory is so candid as to contain none who come, like these Pharisees, with a desire to cavil 2 rather than to learn! The malignity of their temper sufficiently appeared in taking exception at so small a circumstance: hypocrites that could thus strain at a gnat and yet swallow a camel (Mat. xxiii. 24,) scrupling to rub out a few grains of corn, while they sought to devour widows’ houses, and were, under this grave mask of the strictest piety, inwardly full of rapine and all wickedness! (Luke xx. 47, and xi. 39.)
6, 8 Let us attend to the apology Christ makes for his disciples. It speaks his own authority, as greater than the temple, and Lord of the sabbath: and well might he, in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, without the least presumption, use such language as this. It likewise declares much of the genius of his religion, which deals not in forms and ceremonies, and dispenses even with rituals of a Divine appointment, when humanity and 7 benevolence interfere with the observance of them. Since God will have mercy rather than sacrifice, let us abhor the perverseness and wickedness of those who sacrifice mercy itself, not merely to ceremonies of a Divine original, but to their own arbitrary invention, superstitious dreams, and precarious though confident determinations. Let us practise habitual caution and candour, lest, before we are aware, we condemn the innocent and the pious, and become guilty of what is much more displeasing in the sight of God than the faults which a peevish and censorious temper may fancy it discovers in our brethren.
Luke 6:6
Christ, on a following sabbath cures a man whose hand was withered; and vindicates that action from the cavils of the Pharisees. Luke VI. 6—11. Mat. XII. 9—15. Mark III. 1—7.
LUKE VI. 6.
WE have just mentioned an instance of the L. Pharisees cavilling at a very innocent Luke action of the disciples; we shall now proceed VI. 6 to another, in which they charged our Lord
LUKE VI. 6.
AND it came to pass also, [when he was de-
observes the Pharisees design against him.
himself with the violation of the same sacred rest, in a yet more malicious and unreasonable manner. For it came to pass also, when he was departed from thenceᵃ (that is, from the town in whose neighbouring fields they had rubbed out the ears of corn,) that on another sabbath he entered again, as he was used to do, into the synagogue, in some other city which lay in his way through Galilee, and taught his heavenly doctrine there. And behold, a remarkable circumstance occurred; for there was a man present whose right hand was withered, the nerves and sinews of it being so shrunk up that it was entirely useless.
And the scribes and Pharisees, who were there also present with him, watched him, to observe whether he would again heal on the sabbath day; that they might find some new matter for an accusation against him, having succeeded so ill in their former attempt, and plainly perceiving that his reputation grew more and more among the people.
But when the synagogue worship was dispatched, and our Lord’s sermon was also concluded; he, knowing the malignity and wickedness of their thoughts and views, instead of being discouraged by the design they had against him, said to the man who had the withered hand, Rise up from thy seat, and stand in the midst of the assembly: and he cheerfully arose and stood in the most conspicuous part of the synagogue, hoping to receive the favour of a cure.
And as the Pharisees saw what Jesus intended, they asked him, saying, Is it then to be taken for granted that it is lawful to cure on sabbath days, as well as at other times? And they put the question in that general form,ᵇ on pur-
ᵃ When he was departed from thence.] There can be no doubt as to the connection of this story with the preceding, in which all the evangelists agree; and indeed had not Luke told us it was on another sabbath, the words of Matthew would have led us to imagine it had been the same day. Perhaps he might spend most of the week in the town to which the fields mentioned above belonged. Beza’s favourite manuscript, now at Cambridge, as well as one of Stephens’s, adds the following words in Luke, immediately before this story: The same day, seeing a certain man at work on
the sabbath, he said to him, O man, if thou knowest what thou doest, thou art happy; but if thou dost not know it, thou art cursed, an a transgressor of the law. This is undoubtedly a spurious addition; for had the Pharisees heard any thing like this from Christ, they would have followed him n farther, and observed him no more, to find matter even of capital accusation against him. And indeed it goes on a very false supposition that the ceremonial law was already abrogated.
ᵇ They put the question in that general form.] The word ἀγαπών is very exten-
He justifies his healing on the sabbath.
pose that they might have an opportunity to accuse him, and not from any desire of instruction. And he said to them, in reply to that insnaring question, What man is there of you, in all this assembly, who, if he have but one sheep that on the sabbath day should fall into a pit, and be in danger of perishing there, would not lay hold of it without delay, and make no scruple of attempting presently to raise it up from thence, though it would be a work of some labour and difficulty? Now I leave it to your own consciences to reflect how much is a man better than a sheep? So that you must, on your own principles, allow that it is lawful to do well, and to perform the lovely acts of charity and mercy even on sabbath days: and you must own, for instance, that if a man should fall into a pit, it would be lawful on that day to pull him out; and consequently too, it must be lawful, if he labours under a disease, to apply any proper remedies for his cure; much more then must it be so to cure a person, without any laborious application, merely by speaking a word.
Then Jesus said farther to them, To end the controversy in a few words, I will ask you one thing more; Is it lawful to do good on sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life or to destroy [and] even kill the innocent? thereby secretly referring to the purpose of destroying his life,
ive, and properly includes all the care, labour, and attendance, which the case of any distempered or wounded person can require; as I apprehend our English word cure also does; though, through the poverty of our language, we are forced to apply it to those miraculous effects which were so instantaneously produced by the healing word of our blessed Redeemer. What Syriac word they might use I know not; but it is plain the question is put in very general terms, which best favoured their base purpose of founding an accusation on our Lord’s answer.
c If he have but one sheep, that should fall into a pit.] The common version is more literal; but that which I have given plainly suits our English idiom better, and appears to me perfectly faithful: for the stress of the thought cannot lie on supposing a man to have but one sheep in all; but
in this, that one only fell into the pit, yet for the comparatively small value of that one he would not scruple to undertake the labour of helping it out on the sabbath.
d To do well, and to perform the lovely acts of charity and mercy.] This is the meaning of that phrase, ἐνεσθέναις, in the use of which the evangelist might intimate an appeal to some remainders of a moral sense, distinguishing the natural beauty of such actions, which these worst of men could not totally eradicate.
e Secretly referring to the purpose of destroying his life.] I appeal to every reader of taste whether there be not another kind of spirit in these words, on this supposition of such a reference, than we could find in them, by any forced attempt to prove, that not to have cured a withered hand in these circumstances would have been in a sense, destroying life. Such cold
cures a man that had a withered an.
which, while they were thus scrupulous about the observation of the sabbath, they were even then forming in their hearts. But they were silent; being convinced in their own minds of the reasonableness of what he said, and stung with secret remorse of conscience, yet unwilling to confess what they saw and felt.
And when he had looked round upon them all with a just indignation, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, and for that condemnation and ruin which he knew it would bring upon them, as well as for the mischief it might occasion to others, he says to the man that laboured under the calamity which was mentioned before, Stretch forth thine hand. And accordingly he stretched it out, and was not only strengthened for that particular motion of which he was before incapable, but his hand was perfectly restored, and was well and strong as the other.
And the Pharisees were so incensed at the affront which they imagined they had received, in our Lord’s neglecting their censure, and intimating his knowledge of the evil purposes of their hearts, that they were no longer able to bear the place; but went out of the synagogue, and immediately took counsel together with the Herodians, who, different as their civil and religious notions were from those of the Pharisees, joined with them in their enmity to Christ, and zealously united in a conspiracy against him, how they might destroy him, either by a public
and unnatural criticisms have been a great dishonour to scripture, and I persuade myself the authors of them have not seen whither they tended.
[With the Herodians.] The Herodians were a sect of men who, so far as we can judge by their name, seem to have distinguished themselves by their zeal for the family of Herod; whom they might perhaps compliment with the title of the Messiah, though it is plain that neither Herod himself nor the generality of the people fell in with this extravagant opinion: (see Mat. ii. 1-4.) However, from their high regard to Herod, these men would naturally be zealous for the authority of the Romans, by whose means Herod was made and continued king; and it is probable, as Dr. Prideaux conjectures (Connect. Vol. II.
part 2, book 5, ad fin.) that they might incline to conform to them in some particulars which the law would not allow of; and particularly in the admission of images, though not in the religious, or rather idolatrous, use of them. Herod’s attempt to set up a golden eagle over the east gate of the temple is well known (see Joseph. Antiq. lib. xvii. cap. 6, (al. 8) § 1-3;) this complaisant courtiers would, no doubt, defend it; and the same temper might discover itself in many other instances. On all these accounts they were most diametrically opposite to the Pharisees; so that the conjunction of their counsels against Christ is a very memorable proof of the keenness of that malice which could thus cause them to forget so deep a quarrel with each other.
Reflections on the rage of the Pharisees against
prosecution, or a private assassination. And they were filled with madness and rage against him, and discoursed over the point at large with each other, to determine what they might do to prevent the growing reputation of Jesus among the people, and to put a period at once to his labours and his life.
But Jesus knowing [it,] that nothing might hinder him from fulfilling his ministry, withdrew himself from thence, and went with his disciples to the sea of Galilee, on the shore of which he frequently preached to the people.
IMPROVEMENT.
Luke VI. 7 WHAT actions are so fair and lovely, that malice cannot turn them into reproach! What characters are so unblemished, what so exemplary, that uncharitableness cannot revile and condemn them! While the eyes of distressed multitudes were turned to Christ as their only Physician and most valuable Friend, the eyes of the Pharisees are continually upon him for evil: and they behold his wondrous miracles; not for their own conviction, but that they may, if possible, turn them into the means of his destruction. So ineffectual are the most obvious and demonstrative arguments, till Divine grace conquer men’s natural aversion to a Redeemer’s kingdom, and captivate their hearts to the obedience of faith!
Mark III. 6 To have reviled and dishonoured Christ, and to have endeavoured to prevent the success of his ministry, had been a daring crime: but these desperate wretches conspire against his life; and, different as their principles and interests were, form a transient friendship, to be cemented by his blood. Blessed Jesus! well mightest thou say, Many good works have I shewn you, and for which of them would you murder me? (John x. 32.)
Mat. XII. 11 What reasoning could be more plain and forcible than this which our Lord used? and yet, like deaf adders, they stop their ears, and harden their hearts against it. Inhuman creatures, that were more concerned for the safety of a sheep than the happiness of a man! Yet would to God that unworthy temper had died with them; for surely there are those, even among professin Christians, who regard their cattle more than even the souls committed by Providence to their care, and therefore, no doubt, more than their own too!
Mark III. 5 The indignation which Christ felt on this occasion was a just and amiable passion. Happy they, whose anger, like his,
Multitudes follow Christ from the sea shore.
is only awakened by sin, and burns only to destroy that accursed thing?
The malice of the Pharisees did not restrain the benevolence of our compassionate Saviour, nor deprive the poor patient of his cure. Such let our conduct be! Let us not be overcome of evil: let not the most unjust censures, or the most malicious opposition, break our spirits so as to prevent us from doing our duty. If others are mad with persecuting rage, let us pity them; and let all their fury against the cause of God be improved as a motive to excite our most zealous and courageous endeavours for its service.
Luke 6:12-19
Parallels: Mark 3
ur Lord having spent the night in prayer on a mountain, in the morning chooses the twelve apostles; and then comes down to the multitude assembled in the plain, and performs a great number of miracles among them. Luke VI. 12—19. Mark III. 13—19.
LUKE VI. 12.
AND it came to pass in those daysᵃ of his teaching near the sea of Galilee, that Jesus, seeing the general notice which was taken of his appearance, and the inclination which multitudes had to be farther informed concerning him, determined to choose a number of persons who should assist and succeed him in his ministerial work. And as the office to which he intended to assign them was of so great importance, even to the remotest ages, previous to the choice of them he went forth to a neighbouring mountain to pray; and his heart was so much enlarged on this momentous occasion that, notwithstanding all the labours of the preceding day, he continued all night at his devotions, in an oratory [devoted to the service] of God,ᵇ where he had some opportunity of being sheltered by the trees which were planted round it.
And when it was day, early in the morning, he called his disciples to him, [even] those whom he
ᵃ In those days] There can be no doubt of the place of this section, since this choice of the twelve apostles is mentioned both by Mark and Luke just in this connection; and Matthew does not mention it at all till he comes to speak of the mission of the twelve, which is plainly a different thing, and happened some time after. Compare Luke ix. 1, 2, with Mat. x. 1—5 sect lxxiv.
ᵇ In an oratory [devoted to the service] of God; in the oratory of the trees.] This is so singular an expression that I cannot agree with our translation; but rather conclude with Druscus, Prideaux, Whitby, Hammond, and many other good critics, that we are to understand it of an oratory, or proseucha, or prayerhouse, as Dr. Watts
chooses to render it (in his late ingenious discourse on the Holiness of Places, p. 111,) and as the word seems also to be used, Acts xvi. 13. (See Hammond, in loc.) Descriptions of these places may be found in most writers of Jewish Antiquities, and in none that I know of better than in Calme (at the word Proseuche,) and in Prideaux’s Connection, Vol. I. p. 387—389. It is well known they were open at the top, and planted round with trees; as well as often situate by the side of seas or rivers, as was probably the case here. I did not choose, with Dr. Whitby, to render it in God’s house of prayer, that phrase having been so peculiarly appropriated to the temple. See Mat. xxi. 13.
OL. I.
N
Having called his disciples, he chooses twelve for his
leased (compare John xv. 16,) and they cheerfully came to him upon his summons: and out of them he chose [and] constituted twelve, whom he also named his apostles, or envoys; a name which well expressed the office for which they were designed: these he now fixed upon, that for some time they should continually be with him, not only to attend upon his public ministry, but to enjoy the benefit of his private conversation; that he might furnish them the better for the great work in which they were to be employed; and that at length, after suitable preparation, he might with more advantage, send them abroad to preach his gospel, and thereby make way for his own visits to some more distant parts where he had not yet been. And to enable them the more effectually to do it, he determined that they should then have power to heal distempers, and to cast out demons from those unhappy people who were possessed by them; well knowing such endowments would command a regard, notwithstanding the meanness of their appearance.
And the twelve persons who were so signally honoured by him, and whose names (excepting that of Judas Iscariot) will be ever venerable in the Christian church, as being, next to Christ, the great foundations of it (Eph. ii. 20; Rev. xxi. 14,) were these; Simon, whom (it has been observed before, John i. 42, p. 130) he sirnamed Peter, that is, a rock, on account of his remarkable steadiness and intrepidity of temper (see Isa. l. 7,) as well as the peculiar use to be made of him: And James [the son] of Zebedee, the fisherman; and John the beloved disciple, who was the brother of James: and he
c Constituted twelve.] So I choose to render etiones, rather than ordained; ordination to the ministry, carrying along with it an idea by no means suiting what passed now, which was so long before their entering on the office. The word is used elsewhere for appointing to an office; I Sam xii. 6. Gr. and Heb. iii. 2. It is probable our Lord chose twelve apostles in reference to the twelve tribes of Israel (see Mat. xix. 28; Luke xxii. 30; Rev. xxi. 12, 14; and compare Exod. xxiv. 4; Deut. i. 23; and Josh. iv. 2, 3, and therefore care was
taken, on the death of Judas, to choose another to make up the number. (Acts i. 21, 22, 26.) Which seems to have been a piece of respect paid to the Jews previous to the grand offer of the gospel to them; whereas when they had generally rejected it, two more, Paul and Barnabas, were added without any regard to the particular number of twelve.
d He sirnamed Peter.] To sirname, here, plainly signifies to give an additional name; etiones to Zimans etona Rijor.
He names his apostles.
sirnamed them Boanerges, which signifies, Sons of thunder;ᵉ thereby intimating with what victorious and resistless power they should bear down all opposition, and with Divine eloquence and mighty miracles confound the enemies of his gospel: And Andrew, and Philip,¹ of whose first acquaintance with Christ we were before informed (John i. 40, 43;) and Bartholomew; and Matthew, or Levi, who had lately been called from the infamous employment of a publican (Mat. ix. 9. p. 260;) and Thomas, who was also called Didymus, as having a twin brother; and James [the son] of Alpheus, called James the less (Mark xv. 40;) and Lebbeus, whose sirname was Thaddeus, and who was [also called] Judas, or Jude, [the brother] of James;ᶠ and Simon the Canaanite, called also Zelotes,ᵍ or the Zealot, as having before professed a distinguishing zeal for the law: And, worthy of being mentioned in the last place, or rather unworthy of being mentioned at all, otherwise than with the greatest abhorrence, was Judas Iscariot, or a man of Carioth (Josh. xv. 25,) that infamous abandoned wretch, who also was the traitor,
ᵉ Boanerges, which signifies Sons of thunder.] As it stands in this form it is plainly a corruption of BENEL REGISH. Considering the remarkable gentleness of John’s temper and manner of writing, it is more reasonable to interpret this title as in the paraphrase, than to refer it to any thing peculiarly awful or awakening in their manner of address beyond what was to be found in the other apostles.
ᶠ Lebbeus, whose sirname was Thaddeus, and who was also called Judas, or Jude, the brother of James.] That this person had all these names appears from comparing the catalogues given us in the places before us, and in Mat. x. 2—4, and Acts i. 13. Lebbeus being derived from LOR, which signifies the heart, and Thaddeus probably from THAD, a Syrochaldic word, which, as some critics tell us, signifies the breast, seem equivalent names, and may signify the hearty Judas; perhaps to distinguish him from that other Judas whose faithless breast and foul heart had brought a kind of infamy on the name; so that neither Matthew nor Mark use it when speaking of this apostle; and John takes particular care to prevent the confusion
which might arise from the ambiguity of it. John xiv. 22.
ᵍ Simon the Canaanite, called also Zelotes.] It is matter of some doubt with me whether he was called the Canaanite as being a native of Cana in Galilee, as some have thought; or whether it be derived, as Dr. Hammond thinks from the Hebrew KANAD, and signifies the same with Zelotes. But though we have many instances of extraordinary zeal in Phinehas, Elijah, the Maccabees, &c. and read in ancient Jewish writers of the judgment of zeal by which Stephen was murdered, Paul assaulted, &c. yet I cannot find any sect of men distinguished by that name till mentioned by Josephus (Bell. Jud. lib. iv. cap. 3, (al. 5) § 9,) a little before the destruction of Jerusalem. If Simon had the additional name of Zelotes given him on account of his personal zeal for the law (which is possible,) he might probably be a Pharisee: but Mr Fleming’s conjecture that he was the father of Judas Iscariot, who is called the son of Simon (John xii. 4,) seem very precarious, considering how common the name of Simon was. See Fleming’s Christology, Vol. II. p. 167.
Multitudes attend his preaching and his cures.
that afterwards was so ungrateful to his Lord, that he even betrayed himʰ into the hands of his bloody enemies: he had professed himself, with secular and worldly views, a disciple of Christ; and though our Lord well knew him, yet, as his character was free from any visible ground of suspicion, in order to accomplish what was delivered in the sacred oracles, he was pleased to invest him with this holy office, and to place him among his apostles: (compare John xiii. 18.)
And after he had acquainted these twelve persons with his design, and had given them such private instructions as he judged convenient to render their attendance upon him subservient to the execution of their important office, he came down from the mountain with them, and stood in the neighbouring plain: and as the morning was now pretty far advanced, the crowd of his disciples [gathered round him;] and besides those that had followed him for some time, and were now persuaded of his Divine mission, there was also still waiting upon him (as we observed above, Mark iii. 7, 8, p. 280) a great multitude of people from all parts of Judea, and particularly from Jerusalem, and even from the shore of Tyre and Sidon, which lay on the Mediterranean sea; who came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases: And they also who were infested with unclean and wicked spirits,ⁱ made their application to him; and they were cured of the terrible disorders which those malignant beings occasioned. And the whole multitude of these unhappy people endeavoured at least to touch him; for so extraordinary were the miracles of this day, that in some instances, where our Lord did not so much as take any apparent
ʰ That even betrayed him.] It is plain that ex has great force here, if it be rendered even; or else it seems a mere expletive.
ⁱ Unclean spirits.] It seems to me an excessive refinement in the learned editors of the Prussian testament to distinguish (as they do in their note on Mat. x. 1) unclean spirits from other evil spirits which might possess men; supposing the word only to
signify such kind of spirits as drove men to dwell among the tombs, by which they became ceremonially unclean. How little it can be supported from Luke iv. 33, see the note there, p 199. It is evident unclean and evil spirits are generally used as nearly synonymous terms, referring to the moral impurity and malignity of their natures. Compare Mat. xii. 43; Luke xi. 24; and Rev. xvi. 13, 14.
Reflections on the choice of the twelve apostles.
went virtue out of notice of the case, yet there went a Divine, sect. him, and healed though secret, virtue out of him, and wrought them all. so powerfully on those that touched him, that it healed them all, how desperate soever their distempers were.
IMPROVEMENT.
WHEN we consider how much the church in all ages has been indebted to the labours of the apostles, and how much we ourselves owe to them, we shall see great reason of thankfulness to our wise and gracious Master, who was pleased to assign this work to his servants, and so eminently to qualify them for it. It is observable, that before he sent them forth, he chose them to be with him in a more constant attendance on his person and ministry. May all who succeed them as preachers of the gospel, be such as have intimately known Christ themselves, and have been accustomed to spiritual converse with him; that they may with the greater ability, zeal, and efficacy, recommend him to others!
We may assure ourselves that these his future ministers had no inconsiderable share in those petitions in which, with unabating fervour and intenseness of devotion, our Redeemer spent this memorable night. And if we have any regard for the support of religion in the rising age, let us likewise be earnestly praying both for them that are already in the ministry, and for such as are preparing for it. This surely ought to be the frequent care, not only of those who have the tremendous charge of educating such as are ere long to be intrusted with the honour of the gospel and the care of souls, but of those who are now struggling with the glorious labours and trials of that important office, and even of all those private Christians, who cordially love the interest of their Master, and wish the salvation of their fellowcreatures.
Let us unite our cries to him who has engaged to be always with his church even to the end of the world, and say, “Light up, O Lord, a brighter and a stronger flame in the lamps of thy sanctuary! Polish these arrows of thy quiver, that they may pierce deep into the consciences of men! Let thy priests be clothed with salvation, that thy saints may shout aloud for joy! And pour forth upon them so plenteous an unction of thine Holy Spirit, that the odours of thy grace may by their means be diffused around throughout all thy tabernacles; like that of the fragrant oil, which was poured on the head of Aaron, in such rich abundance, that it not only ran down on his beard, but reached even to the skirts of his garments! Amen, and Amen.”
A repetition of the sermon on the mount.
Luke 6:20-36
Christ, in the audience of his newchosen disciples, and of the multitude, repeats in the plain many remarkable passages of his sermon before delivered on the mount. Luke VI. 20—36.
LUKE VI. 20.
AND [Jesus] lifting up his eyes on his disciples, who surrounded him, and more especially directing them to his apostles whom he had lately chosen, said unto them, a Happy are you who are enriched with Divine knowledge and grace, though your circumstances in this world are poor and mean; for the kingdom of God, in all its transcendent and eternal glories, is yours, and you are hastening on to the full possession of it. Happy are you who are now hungry and destitute of all the comfortable accommodations of life, if you feel that nobler appetite by which the religious soul longs after improvements in holiness; b for you shall ere long be filled with the most substantial and valuable blessings. Happy are you who now mourn under a sense of sin, or under that wholesome discipline of affliction by which God reduces his wandering children, and trains them up to superior virtue; for all
a Said unto them.] Hardly any thing that I have observed in the common harmonies surprises me more, than that so many of them make this discourse to be the very sermon on the mount recorded at large by Matthew in his fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters. That was delivered by Christ, sitting on a mountain (Mat. v. 1;) this (as it seems from ver. 17,) standing in a plain; and, which weighs yet much more with me, there is such a difference in the expression, when the parallel passages come to be compared, that it seems evident the evangelists have not related it exactly, if they meant to give us the same. On the other hand, there appears not the least difficulty in supposing that Christ might here repeat a part of what he had delivered some months before to another auditory, and probably at some greater distance than just in the same neighbourhood. (See note b on Luke v. 12, p. 253, and note b on Mat. v. 1, p. 208.) For it is plain from other instances, that this is nothing more than that he often had occasion to do.
(Compare Mat. ix. 32—34 with Mat. xii. 22—24, and xvi. 21 with xvii. 22, 23, and xx. 17—19.) And indeed, since it is certain from Mat. vii. 28, 29, that what that evangelist has recorded as the sermon on the mount was all delivered at once; they who suppose this the very same, must grant that great part of it was repeated at different times, and on different occasions (See note c on Mat. vii. 28, p. 251.) Dr. Whitby and Mr. Blair agree with me in this account of the matter, chiefly on the reasons I have here assigned.
b Who are now hungry—if you feel that nobler appetite, &c.] Compare note g on Mat. v. 6, p. 209. And let it be observed in general, that the sense of the more dubious expressions in this discourse may be much illustrated by comparing parallel passages in the sermon on the mount; to which I have accordingly referred, not judging it necessary to repeat in the notes here what I had said there
he persecuted; but wo to the rich and the gay.
our sorrow shall pass away like a dream, and you shall ere long laugh and rejoice in a complete deliverance from it. (See Mat. v. 4.) Happy are you when men shall hate you, and perecute you; when they shall separate you [from their assemblies, c] as unworthy of communion with them; and shall reproach you in their private conversation, and cast out your names as infamously evil in their public acts of civil or ecclesiastical judgment, on account of your professed adherence to the Son of man (see John ix. 22— 34,) for that glorious and sacred Person is able abundantly to repay all you can suffer for him: And therefore, far from being dismayed and overwhelmed with trouble and distress at such abuses and assaults, be glad in that day, and with holy alacrity even leap for joy; for, behold, your reward in heaven is great in proportion to your sufferings on earth: For thus their Fathers did to the prophets of old, who now are in seats of distinguished glory. (See Mat. v. 11, 12.)
But there is, generally speaking, d cause to denounce a wo to you who are rich; for so ensnaring are the circumstances in which you are placed, that it is much to be feared you have already received all your consolation (compare Luke xvi. 25,) and will be so taken up with the transient pleasures of time as to forget and forfeit everlasting blessedness. There is generally reason to say, Wo unto you who are now filled to the full, and pampered with all the most luxurious dainties! for you shall ere long suffer hunger, and fall into a state of indigence and misery, aggravated by all the plenty which you have enjoyed and abused. Wo unto you who spend your lives in mirth and gaiety, and are so vain as now to laugh off every solemn and awful thought! for you have reason to expect a portion in those doleful regions where, without intermission and without end, you shall mourn and lament. And again, I may generally say, in so corrupt an age as this, Wo unto you when
c Separate you from their assemblies.] d Generally speaking.] Compare Mat. Grotius’s excellent note on this clause well xix. 23, 24. It is most evident that such deserves a most attentive reading; contain expressions as these in scripture are to be ing a most learned dissertation on the various taken with some limitations, otherwise the kinds of excommunication among the Jews. would be contrary to fact in some instances.
We are to love our enemies, and to do good all men speak well of you! for such universal applause is seldom to be gained without sinful compliances; and thus did their fathers to the false prophets of old, who soothed them in their idolatries and other crimes with smooth addresses and vain assurances of security and happiness. You, my disciples, if you would approve your fidelity to God and to me, must act in a very different manner, by which you will certainly expose yourselves to hatred and persecution: But I say unto you, and to all that hear me this day, Far from entertaining sentiments of malice and purposes of revenge, love even your enemies, and do good to them that hate you: Bless them that in the malignity of their hearts revile and curse you; and cordially and fervently pray for them that most spitefully harass and abuse you. (See Mat. v. 44.) And, as ever you would attain to such exalted degrees of fortitude and goodness, accustom yourselves patiently to bear the common injuries of life, which a false sense of honour and interest renders so much more intolerable than they really are. If, for instance, a man smite thee on the [one] cheek, rather than return the blow offer also the other to him; and if he take away thy mantle, do not by violence attempt to hinder him [from taking] also thy vest. (See the notes on Mat. v. 39, p. 223, 224.) I would also charge it upon you to labour after a diffusive liberality, as well as exemplary meekness: be ready then to give to every one that asketh thee for an alms, where thou hast reason to believe it is charity to do it; and from him that taketh away thy possessions in an injurious manner, do not immediately demand them back in the forms of law, but rather endeavour by gentler methods to reduce the offender to reason. And do not by any means imagine, that the injuries you receive from others will cancel the bonds of common humanity to them; but as you would reasonably desire that men should do to you, do you also in like manner to them, and by putting yourselves, as it were, in their places, endeavour to form your minds to an impartial judgment. See note on Mat. vii. 12, p. 245.)
And thus we shall appear to be the children of God.
For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those at love them.
And indeed if you only love them that love you what great thanks are due to you upon that account? For there are some sentiments of gratitude common even to the worst of men, which incline the most scandalous sinners to love those
that love them, and to profess an affectionate regard for those by whom they have been treated with respect and kindness. And if you do good offices only to them that are your benefactors, what mighty thanks are due to you for that. For even the most infamous sinners, either from instinct, or from mere self-love, may often be observed to do the same. (Compare Mat. v. 46, 47, p. 226.) And if you lend only to them from whom you hope to receive, and that, perhaps, with considerable advantage to yourselves, what favour do you shew in that, or what extraordinary thanks are due to you on that account? For even the greatest sinners lend to other sinners like themselves, that, when there is occasion, they may receive the like assistance in return from them.
But I exhort you to love your enemies, and to do good, and lend in cases of great necessity, even when you can hope for nothing again: and so your reward in heaven will be great, and you will appear to be the sons of the most High God; for in the course of his daily providence he is kind to the ungrateful and evil, causing the undeserved benefits of the sun and rain to descend upon them, and filling their insensible hearts with food and gladness. (Compare Mat. v. 44, 45, and Acts xiv. 17.) Be ye therefore merciful, as he also whom you call your heavenly Father is merciful; and unto whom indeed you cannot stand related as his children, if you have no concern to imitate and obey him. (Compare Mat. v. 48, p. 226.)
IMPROVEMENT.
How necessary is it, that our forgetful hearts should have line upon line, and precept upon precept? If Christ did not think it vi. 20
« When you can hope for nothing again, I cannot think (as De Dieu and some others have done to the Syriac and Arabic versions,) that μοδὶν ἀποπίζοντες should be rendered
- I.
Reflections on the maxims Christ has repeated.
improper to repeat this discourse, surely it will not be needless for LIII. us to renew our attention to it. Oh that every word of it were engraven on our hearts as with the point of a diamond, that we might learn, in spite of all the foolish wisdom of this world, to form ourselves on these maxims, as the surest guide to present and to eternal felicity!
Luke Our Lord again pronounces the poor and the hungry, the mournvi. ful and the persecuted, happy; and represents those as miserable 21-26 who are rich and full, joyous and applauded: not that this is universally the case; but because prosperous circumstances are so frequently a sweet poison, and affliction a healing though bitter medicine. Let the thought reconcile us to adversity; and awaken our caution when the world smiles upon us; when a plentiful table is spread before us, and our cup runneth over; when our spirits are gay and sprightly; or when we hear, what to corrupted nature is two harmonious music, that of our own praise from men. Oh that we may secure, what is of infinitely greater importance, the praise of our heavenly Master, by a constant obediential regard to these his precepts!
27-34 May we be happy proficients in the art of bearing and forgiving injuries! May we be ready to every good word and work! maintaining an eye quick to observe, a heart tender to feel, a hand open to relieve, the calamities and necessities of friends, of strangers, and of enemies, giving to some; and where, perhaps, there may be little prospect of a return, lending to others; which, if it engage them to greater industry, is as real a benefit as if the loan were a gift.
35, 36 On the whole, let us not presume to call God our Father, if we do not labour to resemble him; nor dare to challenge the peculiar honour and privileges of Christ’s disciples, if we do not distinguish ourselves from others by the charity of our tempers and the usefulness of our lives, as well as by the articles of our faith and the forms of our worship.
Luke 6:37
Our Lord goes on to repeat many remarkable passages of his sermon on the mount, with some proper additions relating to the same subjects. Luke VI. 37, to the end.
LUKE VI. 37.
JUDGE not others with rigour and severity, LIV. and you may hope that you shall not yourselves be judged with that severity which you Luke VI.37 must otherwise expect from God, and which the most innocent and virtuous characters would not
LUKE VI. 37.
JUDGE not, and ye shall not be
ger of allowing blind and ignorant teachers.
be able to bear: Condemn not others with a rash sensorium, and you shall not be condemned: Forgive others their offences; and if you do it from a truly religious principle,² you shall also be forgiven by God those offences against him, which are infinitely greater than any you can possibly receive from your fellowcreatures. (See Mat. vii. 1, p. 242.)
Give liberally to those that need your assistance, and it shall be given back to you in a rich abundance: for it will gain you so much love and respect, that God will so influence men’s hearts in your favour, that men shall, as it were, pour into your lapᵇ good measure, blessings pressed down, and shaken together, and even running over; for it may be taken as a general rule, that by the same measure that ye measure with to others, it will in return be measured back to you. (See Mat. vii. 2, p. 242.)
He spake also, at the same time, a parable to them (which he afterwards repeated, Mat. xv. 14,) to caution them against submitting with an implicit faith to the conduct of ignorant or vicious men, who might set up for religious teachers; and said, Can the blind undertake to guide the blind? Will they not both, in such a case, be likely to fall into a pit, or ditch, which may happen to lie in their way? And, in like manner, you have nothing to expect from following such men, but to perish with them. There is little reason to hope that, under their instruction, you should be wiser and better than they: for it is, you know, a common proverb, That the scholar is not above his teacher; but all that can reasonably be expected is, that every one who is a finished [scholar] should come up to him that teaches him; and it is this that he will principally aim at, to be as his master: It is of great importance therefore that you should well consider whom you take
² If you do it from a truly religious principle.] This must be supposed, to make it consistent with those passages in which love to God, and faith in Christ, as well as other branches of the Christian temper, are insisted upon as so absolutely necessary, that without them the greatest levity and indulgence to our fellowcreatures cannot give
us a claim to the promises of pardon and salvation.
Into our lap.] Here is an evident reference to the mantles which the Jews wore, into which a considerable quantity of corn might be received. Compare Ruth iii. 15; 2 Kings iv. 39; Neb. v. 13; Prov. xvi. 33.
Reformers should begin with reforming them
to be your teachers; for it is necessary your righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, if you expect a share in the kingdom of heaven. (See Mat. v. 20, and x. 24, 25.)
Yet, on the other hand, I would not have you to be forward in blaming them, or any other, while you neglect a due regulation of your own temper and conduct: for why dost thou look at the little mote which is in thy brother’s eye, and observest not the much greater disorder which is like a beam in thine own eye? Or how canst thou with any decency, or to any purpose, say to thy brother, Brother, hold still, [and] I will take out the mote which is in thine eye, while thou art at the same time so blind and partial, that thou seest not the beam which is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, who falsely pretendest that zeal for the honour of religion, which while thou art thus careless of thyself thou canst not really have, first cast out the beam from thine own eye, and then thou wilt discern [how] to take out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye; which is an office that requires greater wisdom and conduct than in thy present circumstances thou canst be supposed to have. (See the notes on Mat. vii. 3, 4, p. 242, 243.)
Till thou shalt thus reform thyself, there is not much to be expected from thine endeavours to reform others: for as there is no good tree which produces bad fruit; so neither is there any bad tree which produces good fruit: For all the world is agreed that every tree is to be known by its proper fruit: men, for instance, do not gather figs of thorns, nor do they gather a cluster of grapes from a bramble. (Compare Mat. vii. 16, p. 246.)
And indeed, where men converse with any degree of intimacy, they may be known and judged of by their words as well as by their actions. A good man, maintaining an habitual sense of the Divine Presence, and feeling in his own soul a spring of habitual and diffusive benevolence to his fellowcreatures, naturally
Men, for instance.] This is one of introducing the reason of something before those many places where the word reg asserted, but merely intimates an illustra (for) has not its usual signification, of tion of it.
re nce between doers and hearers of the wor produces that which is good, out of the good treasure of grace and love which is laid up in his heart: and on the other hand, a bad man, out of the bad treasure of evil principles and corrupt affections which is laid up in his heart, produces that which is bad, which often breaks out before he is aware, and discovers his character, even contrary to his intention; for his mouth naturally speaks from the overflowing of the heart, and no man has so much artifice as to command it entirely so that it shall never discover itself in some unguarded moment. (Compare Mat. xii 34, 35, sect. lxii.) Yet remember it is not merely by men’s words that their character will finally be judged, and their estate fixed; especially that it will not be determined by a few pious and devotional forms of speech, which in themselves are of very little worth: for why do ye call me Lord, Lord, or what imaginable purpose does that profession serve, if in your practice you are regardless of my will, and do not the things which I say and command to all that call themselves my disciples? (Compare Mat. vii. 21.) This is a vanity of which I have formerly warned you: and to repeat the warning, I wil shew you, on the other hand, to whom that man is like, who comes to me, and hears my words, an practises agreeably to them: and, on the othe hand, to whom it is that he may be resembled who hears my words, and doeth them not. A to the former, he is like a prudent man, tha built an house on the riverside; and, considerin the importance of the undertaking, and the dif ficulty of the situation, dug deep through th sand, and marl, and gravel, till he came t the solid stone, and placed the foundation of hi house upon a rock: and afterwards he wa abundantly repaid for all his labour and expense for when the inundation came, the current of th river with an impetuous torrent violently brok upon that house, and yet was not able to shake i because it was founded upon a rock: thus se curly will the practical hearer stand the shoc of temptations, and the trial of death and of th judgmentday. But, on the other hand, he th hears my words, and does not ractise them, i
Reflections on the admonitions Christ has given us.
like a foolish man, that built an house on the dation built an house LIV. bare surface of the ground, without any care to upon the earth, secure a foundation against which the impetu- against which the Luke ous stream did violently break with the same stream did beat ve- VI.49 fury, and, being unable to withstand the shock, hemently, and imit presently fell down; and the ruin of that house mediately it fell; was irreparably great, and its inhabitants and the ruin of that were all crushed under it. (Compare Mat. vii. house was great. 24—27, sect. xliii.)
IMPROVEMENT.
LET a frequent reflection on our own faults teach us candour; 37 and let a sense of our continued dependence on Divine liberality make us liberal towards those that need our assistance; lest we lose the comfort so justly forfeited, and abused mercies be 38 another day repaid with measures of wrath, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. We are another day to give an account of ourselves before God: let us then judge for ourselves in matters of religion; and 39 be very careful that we do not stupidly follow blind guides till we fall with them into destruction. “Lead us, O Lord, in the way everlasting! Form us to a more perfect resemblance of our great 15 Master! Make us severe to ourselves, and so far as it is real 41, 44 charity, indulgent to others! Sanctify our hearts by thy grace, that they may be as trees bringing forth good fruit, or as foun- 45 tains pouring out wholesome streams! There may a good treasure be laid up, from whence good things may be abundantly produced! There may those holy and benevolent affections continually spring up, which may flow forth with unaffected freedom, to refresh the souls and animate the graces of all that are around us!” 46, 49 May these beautiful, striking, repeated admonitions, which our Saviour gives us of the vanity of every profession which does not influence the practice, be attended to with reverence and fear! We are building for eternity; may we never grudge the time and labour of a most serious inquiry into the great fundamental principles of religion? May we discover the sure foundation, and raise upon it a noble superstructure, which shall stand fair and glorious when hypocrites are swept away into everlasting ruin, in that awful day in which heaven and earth shall flee away from the face of him that sits upon the throne! (Rev. xx. 11.)
A centurion applies to Christ to heal his servant o a pa sy.